Sideways

Ein sehr, sehr angenehmer Film, der keine Kunst vortäuscht und keine Angst hat, auch vulgären und trockenen Humor zu nutzten. Die beiden Hauptdarsteller lernt man so persönlich kennen, dass sie Freunde des Publikums werden. Und man erlebt mit ihnen so viele komische sowie traurige Real-Life-Momente, dass man aus dem Kino sehr zufrieden nach Hause geht. Es gibt weit und breit keinen anderen Film, der bei den Zuschauer*innen für so eine Zufriedenheit sorgt. Eine angenehme Überraschung war auch der Humor, am Ende (das Portemonnaie) habe ich aus vollem Hals gelacht. Ich finde es schade, dass die Akademie die geniale Schauspielleistung von Paul Giamatti ignoriert hat. Ähnlich starke 4* wie bei Y Tu Mama Tambien - Lust for Life. (11.02.2005)

Den Soundtrack, den für Sideways einer meiner Lieblingskomponisten der Gegenwart – Rolfe Kent – komponiert hat, liebe ich schon seit vielen Jahren. Ich kenne ihn auswendig und habe nie genug davon. Die großartige Musik duftet nach Jazz, sie ist verspielt, melancholisch, gefühlvoll, witzig… Es kommen in ihr fast alle existierenden Launen vor. Ich habe immer Lust auf sie. Jetzt ist klar, dass der Film die gleiche Stimmung hat. Es ist ein angenehm wahrheitsgetreuer Streifen, auf gar keinen Fall moralisierend und auf gar keinen Fall super witzig. Ich fand ihn auch nicht zu lang, obwohl er zwei Stunden dauert. Ein sonniger Film, in dem ein paar Schauer kommen. Aber was soll man machen – wenn es regnet, sollte man darauf warten, bis die Sonne wieder scheint, nicht wahr. Toll gespielt und aufgenommen, mit einer ausgezeichneten Musik. Ich kann mir aber nicht helfen – Ein gutes Jahr hat mir besser gefallen. (19.10.2013)

This film is like wine, but not you drink it out of a carton like a bum in front of the supermarket, but like, for example, Richebourg vintage ´61 in a nice place, with light notes of jazz in the background and an attractive lady across the table. The label "comedy" is misleading, this is not a film that would elicit volleys of laughter from start to finish, but very pleasantly flowing entertainment with polished dialogue and wonderful actors. Just my cup of tea. The Oscar for screenplay is very well deserved, and as for Giamatti, it's called a 'role of a lifetime'. (09.01.2008)

As a marketing tool, the Oscar Award is ideal, but as the ultimate measure of film quality, it is definitely not. Sideways had the potential to outshine precisely executed but overly ambitious projects like The Aviator and the award-winning Million Dollar Baby. This was the film that had the power to make that universally accepted standard of quality fall into its hands. But it was too small, fundamentally too ordinary, and at first glance, it went, quite fittingly to its name, too sideways. The screenwriting duo of Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor took the most stereotypical route to the theme of a bachelor party. The move, which is not at all abnormal in a time when there is nothing else to do but revamp the old and give it a stamp of novelty and originality, is slightly risky from Payne and Taylor, but it paid off many times over. At least those two won an Oscar for it. Perhaps it was the desire of the screenwriters to cram something new, unconventional, and especially atypical into the film, or a deliberately aimed symbol in which the tragicomic fate of the film's characters could be reflected. Wine, for an American, is probably as natural a drink as Kentucky whiskey is for a Frenchman. And yet, in the film, wine tasting seems perfectly natural, as if it were an everyday affair for every American. It smells pleasant, a little sour to taste, then comes the sharp taste of alcohol, and when you drink too much, it can give you a headache. "In vino veritas" and Sideways is like the wine. The long search for love, and yet it's not a romance, plenty of humorous situations, and yet it's not a comedy. Besides good ideas, Sideways also respectfully borrows from every genre a certain amount of perspective, from which you can see just enough for a happy-looking ending, depending on who you ask, it must be added. Moreover, "Payne the director" is a completely different person than "Payne the writer." He carefully avoids all the pitfalls of the genres from which he respectfully borrowed and doesn't burden the viewer with conversational boredom or indulge in jumping from one gag to another, and heaven forbid, playing on a romantic string. Payne sticks to everything in moderation, but not in an awkward way. Also, all established Hollywood stars should respectfully kneel in front of the performances delivered by the central quartet in this film. And for Thomas Haden Church to lose in an Oscar race to a standard-issue Morgan Freeman? He really didn't deserve that. Sideways not winning (I deliberately don't want to use the word "losing") the Oscar may not be the harshest crime of the Academy, but it will definitely take me a while to accept it. (21.06.2005)

Middle age crisis... and wine. A relaxed atmosphere... and wine. A week in the life of two former dormmates, one of whom is a far-from-successful writer, currently English teacher and wreck, and the other is a low-quality actor who appears in soaps and commercials... and wine. Excellent actors... and wine. A marvelously relaxed time surrounded by vineyards... and wine. A brilliant screenplay, seemingly about nothing, while in fact being about everything... and wine. An action finale in true buddy movie style? Not even in your dreams - instead we get a double portion of laid-back humor and... and wine. Sideways is an extremely, and I mean extremely, pleasant indie movie that will stay with you for a long while after. By the way, did I mention that this is also about grapes... and wine? (21.06.2007)